Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Chain Effect ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Darkworld's Note:

I really don't see exactly the point of leaving a NOTE here. Seeing how no one is really reading this carefully made, love-in-every-stitch story. Oh, except for Skye Dragon. *Bows* thank you ever so much for leaving a review as proof. And anyone else who reads this fic, please leave a review as well. Ok, just to clarify: The first two chapters were done by me. My partner in crime, murder, scandal, robbery, and writing this story wasn't able to write this one, so I had to. But Skakujou will have the pleasure of writing the next chapter. Ok, that's all I wanted to say, and oh, and please Read and Review. If you're a writer, you know the irritation of not having any. So take pity on your fellow man. Please?

"Heh...you should really be more careful," the thief snickered, a satisfied grin planted on his face at his scoring a rather nice hit on his opponent. And his excellent use of strategy. His silver eyes flashed brightly in the sun as they danced about, observing every inch of Naruto.

Unconsciously leaping the gap, the man approached Naruto. Who, upon noticing his opponent approaching scrambled to his feet. Naruto's hand instantly going for a shuriken. Thanks to years of training, the motion was second nature to the fox demon.

"I'm Arai Kisho, what's your name?" Naruto blinked in surprise, Kisho's hands held neither weapon nor item. Instead one was extended towards Naruto in friendly gesture. Kisho seemed oblivious to Naruto's shuriken which were grasped firmly in hand.

"Come on now...we don't have all day, do we? Unless of course..." Kisho started to draw his hand back, "You don't want your money back. I can put it to good use you know..." Inwardly, Kisho smirked as he found Naruto's hand firmly grasping his own.

"Give me my money back," Naruto growled, "Drop it now and I'll let you leave," this brought forth a chuckle from Kisho.

"Let me leave? LET me leave?" The friendly smile vanished from Kisho's face, in its stead a sharp frown was plastered. "My dear boy...my dear, dear, boy. I'm afraid that is FAR out of your range. A lower class shinobi like you should hardly have the right to speak to me. You worthless trash," Kisho taunted, his words really held no truth. And he knew it, his taunts were merely a means of aggravating his opponent into attacking. A strategy that would work disgustingly well against the hot headed Naruto.

"What....did you call me?" Naruto growled his grip tightening on Kisho arm. Naruto's lips curled into an infuriated sneer.

Kisho sneered back, "Huh...you're too stupid to understand? Okay then, let's try this." He took a breath.

"You-are-a-worthless-piece-of-trash..." Kisho grated the words out as if talking to a child, succeeding in objective number one: infuriating the opponent. Naruto attacked. With a snarl of anger, Naruto's hand shot out, his kunai blade speeding towards Kisho's neck.

"Tsk, tsk: such a temper!" ducking the blade, Kisho lashed out with his foot, his effort rewarded with a grunt as Naruto was effectively brought to the ground by the successful leg sweep. Before his foe could recover Kisho pinned Naruto down with his knee. And with one free hand, he held both Naruto's hands.

"Hm...lesse here. If my hunch is correct..." with his free hand, he plucked Naruto's headband off, causing Naruto to thrash about even more under his knee in irritation.

"First my money, and now my headband!"

"Tsk, don't be such a fool, I'm a shinobi of the Rain, and I've no need for a..." Kisho checked the front of the headband. "Headband from Konohagakure Village, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto continued thrashing, frustrated, "How do you know my name!?"

"Ungh!" Amaya grunted in annoyance more than pain as she was sent into a tree, courtesy of another powerful kick to her face. `Damn it!' She growled inwardly, `what is it with this kid and kicking my face?! Not to mention that I should outrank him by two years…' Getting to her feet in time to face another onslaught brought by Sasuke, Amaya felt a smile creep about her lips. `Hn…I think finishing this quickly is a possibility here…'

"Give me my money back." Sasuke said coolly. He slashed at his foe with his kunai only to have his arm caught as Amaya`s hand caught him by the wrist in a strong grip.

Sasuke winced at his mistake. `I'll give her this much. She's got fast reactions.'

The girl grinned in an almost insane way as she sent Sasuke spinning to the ground with a sharp twist of her wrist.

"I don't feel like it right now. Try some other time." with a shake of her left arm, a kaiken* slipped out of her sleeve to land neatly into her hand.

Sasuke's keen eyes narrowed as they noticed a slight discoloration on the tip of the dirk.

"Poison?"

Hidden from view thanks to Kakashi's strategic location, he and Sakura observed the heated battle with great interest.

Kakashi's lazy one-eyed glance never wavered from where it was examining the situation. "Huh, poison. Not a bad move considering the girl wants our Sasuke out of the way for good." the jounin smiled at Sakura's panicked retort. `Typical.'

"Poison!?" Sakura hissed, incredulous and angry at the same time, "How can she use that! She's only at the least 15!"

"Hmm...Are you sure?" Kakashi squinted down at the thief, "I think she looks more like...14 years old. Wouldn't you say?"

Sakura sighed in annoyance, "Sensei.....that's not what I was talking about."

"Really?"

"..."

"Oh! The poison, right, right," Kakashi chuckled. "Well, you must remember, Sakura, we're no longer in familiar territory where everything may be prosperous and safe. In the Village of the Rain, it's about winning in the long run."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Think of it as a game, a beaten opponent can always re-heal, rebuild, and become better through practice, training, and so on."

Sakura winced as she saw Sasuke take a critical slice to the arm. But luckily, it was with the kunai blade that the girl held in her other hand. Sasuke had managed to get to his feet and avoid the tainted kaiken.

"And your point, sensei?"

Kakashi smiled grimly, "A dead one can't."

"It's been ten minutes...I think you can stop laughing now," Naruto grumbled, not very happy that he was pinned down and being the center of laughter at the same time.

Wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, Kisho stifled his laughter as best he could. "You're such an idiot. How do I know your name? It's written right inside of the headband that I have here in nearly illegible handwriting which I can only assume is yours! I won't be surprised if you blow yourself up when you try to use some ninjutsu!"

He was an odd one, Naruto mentally noted. His mocking seemed to be light hearted and merely in the spirit of good fun. Which was better suited for friends at a tavern rather than on a rooftop in a dangerous fight. He twitched.

`This guy's nuts!' He froze as the shinobi pinning him down suddenly moved towards his head. He started struggling until he felt something familiar touch his forehead once more.

"Here," Kisho carefully slipped the headband back on. Adjusting it until he was certain it was exactly as Naruto had left it.

"There we go. Nice and neat!"

"Huh? Wait, wha?" Naruto rambled in confusion as he felt the man's weight lift off him. Why in the deepest circle of Hell itself would he get up? He could've gotten rid of him right then and there.

Kisho gave the blond a puzzled look to match Naruto's, "What're you gawking at?"

"Why the hell didn't you kill me?"

"Huh? Oh~ that, ha, ha," the thief chuckled as he began to untie the yari* that was strapped to his back. The long tassel that dangled by the butt of the formidable weapon held onto him by a knot.

"Why should I? I think that if you are indeed going to die, Uzumaki, I think I should give you the chance to do it in an honorable way," Kisho gave a click of his tongue, fiddling with the weapon.

"Grr...damn knot, untie already."

"You really shouldn't be talking about honor, thief," Naruto snapped as he began to ready weapons of his own. He pulled out a new tool, keeping a wary eye on the man. Athough showing a brave face, inside he was trying to figure out this situation and whether the people in this village were sane.

`How come I didn't see that huge thing when he bumped into me?'

Just in time, the man had finally managed to undo his troublesome knot.

"Heh," he smirked in amusement at Naruto's sharp and rather rude remark. After all, he had allowed Naruto his life.

"Fair enough," grasping the yari firmly with both hands, Kisho gave his opponent a small smile as Naruto charged recklessly forward, a new shinobi-to* in hand. By the looks of how clean it was and how he handled it, anyone could tell that it hadn't been favored, unlike his kunai and shuriken. But at least Naruto had enough common sense to know that a kunai would be quite useless against weapon that commanded such reach.

With a dull thud, blade met wood (fire hardened wood, mind you) as the charge was blocked. With a yell, Naruto began attacking furiously, aiming for all openings that he could find.

"You're strong for one so young!" Kisho commented. He was having a bit of trouble with keeping up with his foe's attacks, for each block the sheer force of it was enough to knock the yari off course. It was meant to be a compliment in a strange sense. But Naruto took it as something more of a derogatory remark.

"I'll show you strength!" Now thoroughly infuriated his battering became a frenzied onslaught. Every blow became twice as powerful, twice as fast. But fatally, it turned out twice as clumsy. Although Kisho did not boast formidable strength, his reaction time and speed were forces to be reckoned with, and it didn't take a considerable amount of force to drive the razor sharp spear head through tender flesh.

"Maa, maa…don't move so much, Sasuke-chan! A fly like you needs to be swatted." Amaya chided as she stabbed and hacked at Sasuke with her poisoned kaiken. Again, her personality switched due to the new situation.

The pro: Sasuke had to be careful dodging the poison, since he obviously didn't want to be skewered and secondly, didn't know what poison it was or the antidote to it. So all he could do was defend himself, leaving her an advantage.

The con: The kaiken had little or no reach whatsoever, forcing Amaya into close combat. And it wasn't easy to land a hit on one with an Uchiha's speed, so it was a good thing she was fast as well.

"And let myself be caught by a spider such as you?" Sasuke shot back. He found an opening and sliced through her side, rewarded by feeling of her warm blood oozing onto his hand.

`Funny, I thought it'd be cold.'

Stifling a yelp of pain, she turned her attention towards returning the favor. "Yeah? Well, too bad: when you dove for my opening, you left yourself open." Sasuke cursed, realizing that she had caught his arm.

"Since you're so eager to come across death, pretty boy, I'll help you find it!" Amaya's free hand snapped down, nearly crushing Sasuke's throat in its iron grip. He choked, never letting go of the kunai he had jabbed into her. The rough bandages wrapped around her hand scratched his neck, increasing pain.

Slamming Sasuke to the ground, Amaya held the kaiken dangerously close to his face. On top of that, she ended up sitting on him, pinning his limbs to the dirt. Sasuke knitted his eyebrows, trying to move the kunai in her side. But he couldn't break the hold.

She sighed tiredly.

"Should've just let your money go."

"SAKURA, NO!" the girl blinked at the sound of Kakashi's yell.

"Who the hell is Sa-aagh!" Amaya, who had turned in the direction of the yell to see who indeed Sakura was. And she found out the fast way.

Sakura, in an attempt to aid Sasuke, had broken cover and had launched herself at the Rain shinobi, and was inches away from breaking Amaya's nose with her fist. However, Amaya recovered first.

Using Sakura's own momentum against her the shinobi let her head fall backwards, watching the fist hit the air right where her head had been a moment before. Finding the ground with her hands she twisted out of the girl's grip and slammed her feet into Sakura's gut. With a cry, the pink haired ninja was sent across the clearing, landing on her side.

"Psht," Amaya spat blood as she caught site of a silver haired man, most likely the trio's jounin, leap off his perch on a tree above and examine the girl. The girl would live.

She winced. Now only if she could say the same for herself. Sasuke had been holding onto the kunai that he'd stuck into her, thankfully missing anything important, but by being forced away the blade had been ripped through her side and blood was now seeping out at an alarming rate.

Amaya turned back to Sasuke, who had stored the bloody kunai away in his shuriken holder, and had a smirk planted on his face. She frowned. He'd taken advantage of the girl's surprise attack, and now something was wrong. Her sharp eyes immediately fond the problem: his hands were formed in the sign of the Tiger! He had completed some form of jutsu!

"Shit!" She recoiled and leapt away, aiming for a tree branch. The kaiken was slid back into its hiding spot, no longer useful.

"Can't I ever catch a break?"

"Is your will to sustain unspent!?" Kisho asked, clearly impressed that one so young could carry out such a fast and powerful onslaught for so long. But he knew the physical limits of his foe. He could feel it in Naruto's blow, with each one he blocked. He could feel it. Naruto was starting to weaken.

"Is that spear of yours unbreakable?!" Naruto shot back, annoyed that neither the yari nor Kisho himself showed any sign of wear. The sharp shinobi-to did little to nothing in crippling him, weather it be severing his leg or severing his spear. The Rain shinobi, however, had other plans.

"I don't know about unbreakable, Uzumaki Naruto…" Kisho had been waiting for the opportune moment and it came with Naruto's blow. Blocking it as he usually had with mid-spear section, Kisho did something that was not so usual. He was holding the spear by the far ends, and in a quick twisting motion, he brought the spear from the closer edge of the blade to the farther edge.

"But…I highly doubt you'll be around long enough to find OUT!" jerking his yari back to himself, Kisho also brought the shinobi-to flying out of Naruto's hand effectively disarming him.

"Well now..." Kisho gave him his small, friendly smile. "I do believe that it's my turn."

Naruto gulped nervously. This was bad. He was up against a 14 year old shinobi with a yari. He had nothing except kunai and shuriken, and neither would be very effective against Kisho if he knew how to use his yari correctly. And by the show performed shortly before, he had a hunch that he did. But through his nervousness an ounce of courage remained. For Naruto had his ace in the hole.

"Well then?" Naruto smirked, "Hit me."

Kisho, at these words became seemingly one with his yari. The spear danced in his hands as it preformed fancy twirls and spins. Each one melding with the other until seemingly it became one fluid motion. Kisho did the same. It was an impressive sight to be sure. But in theory, it was nothing to be afraid of.

"Ha!" Naruto mocked as he watched Kisho's "dance". Backing away from Kisho with every step Kisho took himself. His attack, which would be extremely painful if one would fall into his attack radius was still nothing to fear. For all Naruto had to do was keep a safe distance from Kisho. Because in his "dance" he could barely walk.

"What're you? A shinobi or a circus act? Those moves won't get you anywhere except on the side of the road as a street attraction!"

Kisho was not discouraged by these words. "Remember Naruto! The way of a shinobi is not just killing. It is not just brute force and action! It is also a mind game. To confuse and befuddle your opponent is key to victory."

"Haha! Well, your attack, if I could call it that," Naruto teased in his child like manner. "Is confusing to be sure. But confusing me won't really earn you a kill now will it? You'll have to attack me if you want to win. And as long as I stay away from you, you can't hit me."

Kisho smirked, but it was behind lost in his blurry form. "You should not laugh at me, Uzumaki Naruto. You must respect a shinobi," Kisho let go of his yari. The force of his spinning enough to send it hurtling at an ferocious speed towards Naruto. Who was taken completely by surprise. With his slow reaction time and the yari's impossible speed. Naruto took the spear through the neck. Instantly killing him.

"Or in turn...Uzumaki Naruto," Kisho gave the already dead Naruto a warm smile as he pulled the blood smeared yari out of the demon fox's neck.

"The shinobi will not respect you."

"Boo," Kisho was suddenly grabbed by the arms. A Naruto for each. Another Naruto bound Kisho's legs. And another relieved him of his yari.

"W-what? What is this?" Kisho gasped, his eyes wide with disbelief as they observed an awesome sight. At least more than fifty Naruto clones crowded the roof. Each made of flesh and blood as real as himself.

"Kudos to you, Arai Kisho," One Naruto broke from the swarm of orange jumpsuits to stand before Kisho alone.

"You were successful in killing one of my clones. But now...as you would say," the words rang clear as they were spoken in union by Naruto and his clones: "I do believe that it's my turn."

****

Meanwhile, deep in the heart of the woods. Sasuke and Amaya were scampering about from tree to tree in a wild game of cat and mouse. Sasuke with his fireball technique, which was of course, anything but lethal, was, as you all can well imagine, the cat. So guess who's the mouse? Right, Amaya. Who wasn't too happy in her current position of furry rodent. Surprisingly, something even more to her disliking was the destruction of the trees.

Wood + Fire= Fun! Er…I mean burning.

"I can't take this," she muttered. And suddenly, she stopped, completely aware of Sasuke and his fire. She turned to face him with a blank face, ignoring the swaying of the thin branch she had halted on.

"Agh!" Giving a cry of dismay/surprise, Sasuke broke off his seal. A direct hit with the Fireball jutsu might just burn his money along with Amaya. But the part where she burned as well was just fine with him, of course.

Her hands clenching into fists, Amaya felt as if every single part of her would erupt in her total fury.

"YOU IDIOT!" She seethed, fixing him with a dark glare.

"LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

With one hand she pointed an accusing finger at the last of the Uchiha clan, and what used to be past him, which was now blazing with the trail of fiery destruction he had left.

"Those trees....this land....it's all breeding grounds for silkworms," She growled.

"It's the meager income that this Village makes....and you dare to destroy it? You dare forsake our land and the people who dwell inside it?"

Before Sasuke could even think to act, her hands had performed a seal.

Amaya's explosive anger was gone, instead in its place was a quiet rage that stirred beneath her skin. Through bone and flesh, it boiled in her very soul. Like a sleeping dragon, this was true anger. Suddenly, without warning, rain began to fall. No...not fall. Rain began to pour, so heavy and so quick. The thick mist rising began to cloud Sasuke's vision like fog. But he did not feel nor care for the rain, for Amaya with her deadly glare against the suddenly darkening sky and insane rain, made a terrible sight.

"Do you know of the legend of this Village?" Amaya began darkly.

"Does your memory hold the tale of the Village of the Rain?"

Sasuke spat as water began to seep into his mouth.

"What need do I have for a story?"

But Amaya ignored his remark. "They say a great and powerful spirit watches over this village. The very essence of all oceans, rivers, and lakes: the Great Water Spirit. They say he takes the form a great dragon made by the very water itself, pouring down from the heavens, made by the rain. The very same rain we stand in, Sasuke. However..." A soft droning noise began, as if from far above them. He thought nothing more of it than thunder.

"The Spirit, the Essence of Water only comes down when it is angry, when it must punish someone responsible for harming the Village. The Village of Rain is its child, as is all things that belong to the Village," Amaya's eyes shifted upward to look up into the gray sky that drenched her and Sasuke in their tears. The droning noise began to escalate in volume. Growing louder by the second until it was an unmistakable roar.

"You've upset the Water Spirit, Sasuke. I think it's time that you've gotten acquainted."

Sasuke was catching on. That roar was no thunder. Something bad was coming and if he didn't move that something would hit him. So with his good common sense, he sprang off his perch to the left.

There was something intriguing about the story, and the clamor above led Sasuke's eyes upwards. "What the hell…?"

Now, as you may already have guessed, or as you may have already known, Naruto was having much better luck with his fight than Sasuke. His opponent was being held down by his counterparts and he was able to pummel away to his hearts content.

"Not so tough now are ya?" Naruto said with a satisfied smirk as he watched Kisho nearly cough up blood. Surprisingly, through nearly half an hour of a heavy beating, Kisho was able to smile.

"Congratulations," he managed to choke out weakly. Though his false politeness and cheeriness remained, a slight tinge of sarcasm escaped his lips.

"You've succeeded in beating a man who is as helpless as one with no arms, nor legs. Truly you are a fine shinobi!"

A spasm of anger flashed across Naruto's face as he reared back to punch. "I'll wipe that smug smirk off your face yo-" suddenly, an earsplitting roar pierced the still air. The ground rumbled beneath the two adversaries as the sheer volume of the cry could shake the Earth itself.

"What the hell was that!?" Naruto yelled, shock beginning to take over his anger.

Blood splattered everywhere as Kisho began to laugh. His weariness seemed to vanish and new found strength took its place. The Leaf shinobi whirled around to face him, puzzled. Picking his head up, he leered at Naruto with an eerie smile. His blood splattered features did nothing to lessen the disturbance the blond felt.

"It means your friend is dead."

Naruto's eyes widened, and he started backing away.

Kisho gave an inward sigh of relief as the Naruto clones suddenly vanished and he was allowed to hit the ground and accept unconsciousness. His last sight was of Naruto vanishing into the woods at full sprint.

"SASUKE!!!!!!"

Weapons

kaiken - This favorite weapon of the Kunoichi (female ninja) was a small skinny dirk. The kaiken could easily be concealed in ones garment or sleeve.

shinobi-to - The sword carried by the shinobi was the shinobi-to or sometimes called the shinobibigatana. Like most ninja weapons the shinobi-to had a multitude of uses. The shinobi-to was shorter than the Samuri's katana, it could be worn across the back to enable the ninja to climb without sword interference. The cord (sageo) was attached to the scabbard (saya) about 12 feet in length. The handguard (tsuba) unlike the katana, was square and larger. The shinobi-to could be laid against a wall to be used as a step to climb, the sword could then be pulled up by the sageo.

The ninja would carry metsubishi (blinding powder) at the bottom of the scabbard to throw into the enemies eyes while drawing his sword. The scabbard could also be used as a blowgun or snorkel. The scabbard often served as a secondary weapon in time of need.

yari - One of the major weapons used in battle was a yari (spear). It was mainly used for poking, thrusting and stabbing. The yari was most utilyzed in the momachi Era (1394-1595). The yari's main target area was the abdomen. The shinobi would practice perfecting his technique on rice sacks and iron rings.